Patient lift and support for hospital bed

ABSTRACT

A patient lift and support for a hospital bed is disclosed in which a flexible netting is utilized to lift a patient above the hospital bed mattress and support the patient above the mattress for prolonged periods of time if necessary. The patient lift and support is designed to be attached to a standard hospital bed having side guard rails. The patient lift is lightweight, can be installed on a hospital bed in a matter of minutes, requires no modification to the hospital bed for installation or removal, and may be carried easily from place to place by one person.

United States Patent Blair 1 Sept. 16, 1975 [54] PATIENT LIFI ANDSUPPORT FOR 3,383,717 5/1968 Underwood 5/85 HOSPITAL BED 3,386,1 1 16/1968 Daniel 5/81 R 3,548,426 12/1970 Helton 5/331 [75] Inventor: ReedF. Blair, Bethel Park, Pa.

[73] Assignee: Reed F. Blair, Incorporated, Primary ExaminerCasmir A.Nunberg Pittsburgh, Pa.

[22] Filed: Aug. 9, 1974 [57] ABSTRACT pp 45 A patient lift and supportfor a hospital bed is disclosed in which a flexible netting is utilizedto lift a pa- [52] U S Cl 5/85 5/81 tient above the hospital bedmattress and support the [51] Int .Cl; "A478 ,83/04 patient above e t sfor prolonged p s of [58] Pie. 81 84 85 time if necessary. The patientlift and support is de- 5/86 gg 5 signed to be attached to a standardhospital bed hav- 316 ing side guard rails. The patient lift islightweight, can be installed on a hospital bed in a matter of minutes,56] References Cited requires no modification to the hospital bed forinstallation or removal, and may be carried easily from UNlTED STATESPATENTS place to place by one person 2,653,330 9/1953 Nolan 248/226 B3,099,842 8/1963 Jensen 4. 5/84 6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATIENT LIFTAND SUPPORT FOR HOSPITAL BED BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates to an auxiliary patient lift and support for a hospital bedwhich is readily attached to the side guard rails of a standard hospitalbed. The present invention consists of two longitudinally extendingframe members which are removably clamped to the side guard rails of thehospital bed. A flexible patient support consisting preferably of arelatively coarse mesh netting is utilized to be stretched between thetwo longitudinal frame members. When one of the frame members isrotated, the flexible patient support fabric is stretched tautly betweenthe two longitudinal frame members to lift the patient above themattress of the hospital bed.

Many patients require a netting-type support by which they may be liftedabove the mattress of the hospital bed for prolonged periods of time. Ifa patient has severe bed sores, a netting support upon which he may liepermits air to circulate about him and thereby assists in the healing ofthe bed sores. Likewise, many burn victims must be supported so that airmay circulate about their bodies as theyheal.

Many times,,a patient who is incapacitated to a high degree must belifted above the mattress so that soiled linen and bed clothing may bechanged. In order to accomplish these purposes, the, device of thepresent invention has been supplied.

Many attempts have been made in the prior art to provide for a patientlift and support which may be utilized with hospital beds. Some examplesof these prior art devices may be found in the patent to Bond, US. Pat.No. 3,701,170, entitled Apparatus Facilitating Care of a BedfastPatient, and issued Oct. 31, 1972; the patent to White, US. Pat. No.3,562,824, entitled "Hammock for Invalid Beds", and issued Feb. 16,1971; and the patent to Harris, US. Pat. No. 3,302,219, entitledHospital Bed and Lifting and Turning Device, issued Feb. 7, 1967. Thepresent invention provides an improvement over all of these devices andall of the prior devices which have been suggested for the generalpurpose being considered.

Primarily, the present invention provides a device which may be readilyattached to a standard hospital bed with side guard rails without anymodification or change to the standard'hospital beds. The presentinvention provides a frame in two pieces which may be clamped to theguard rails. The flexible, net-like patient supporting fabric isattached to the two frame members. By rotation of one of the framemembers, the patient supporting fabric may be rolled onto the framemember in order to pull the fabric taut and thereby raise the patientabove the bed.

In the earlier devices, extensive modification to the hospital 'bed wasrequired. Further. the earlier devices could not be transported readilyfrom bed to bed by one person without assistance.

The present invention provides a novel device for lifting patients andsupporting them above the mattress of a hospital bed.

SUMMARY The presentinvention is directed to an improved patient lift andsupport for a hospital bed having side guard rails that extend upwardlyabove the height of the mattress. The present invention provides aportable, lightweight frame which may be attached to a standard hospitalbed without modification of the hospital bed. The frame may be removablyattached so that it can be readily moved from bed to bed as necessary.The patient lift and support of the present invention is lightweight,may be carried by one person from place to place, and may be installedon a bed within minutes.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, it is an object of thepresent invention to provide an improved patient lift and support for ahospital bed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a lightweightpatient lift and support for a hospital bed which may be moved readilyfrom place to place by one person and installed upon the hospital bed ina matter of minutes without modification of the hospital bed.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent asthis description proceeds in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWlNGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the patientlift and support of the present invention installed upon a hospital bedwith the hospital bed being shown in phantom lines.

FIG. 2 is a partial elevational view of one frame member of the patientlift and support of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a detailed sectional view of the clamp means provided to clampthe frame of the present invention to the hospital bed taken along line33 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, thereis shown a hospital bed 10 having side guard rails 12. Each of the sideguard rails 12 has a top horizontal rail 14, a lower horizontal rail 16,and a center horizontal rail 18. The hospital bed 10 and the side guardrails 12 are shown in phantom lines in FIG. 1 since they are portionsof'a standard hospital bed and form no part of the present inventionexcept as the present invention is attached to the standard hospital bedwithout modification of the bed.

An auxiliary patient lift and support is indicated generally at 20.Theauxiliary patient lift and support has a first horizontal framemember 22 and a second horizontal frame member 24. The horizontal framemembers 22 and 24 are preferably formed of tubular metal such as steeland extend longitudinally of the hospital bed 10 when the support 20 isinstalled on a hospital bed.

The first horizontal frame member 22 is secured to the hospital bed siderail 14 by means of spring-loaded clamps 26 which are fixed to the framemember 22. The details of construction of the clamps 26 will bedescribed subsequently in this specification.

Spring loaded clamps 28 rotatably receive the second horizontal framemember 24 and position it on the bed side guard rail 12.

A flexible patient support fabric 30 is secured to each of thehorizontal frame members 22 and 24 by hooks 32 that are formed on framemember 22 and hooks 34 that are formed on frame member 24. The flexiblepatient support fabric is preferably formed of a net-like fabric formedfrom polymer fiber. The net preferably has square openings with the meshopenings being larger than one-eighth inch on each side.

As is best shown in FIG. 3, the spring loaded clamps 28 which rotatablyreceive the second horizontal frame member 24 have a body portion 36 towhich is fixed a hook 38. Also provided within the body portion 36 is amovable hook 40 which may move relative to the body portion 36 andreciprocate relative to fixed hook 38. A washer 40a fixed to the end ofhook 40 restrains one end of a spring 42 that urges hook 40 toward hook38 so that the two hooks, 40 and 38, tend to clamp toward each other sothat spring-loaded clamp 28 will attach to the side guard rails 12 ofthe hospital bed.

The body portion 36 of the spring-loaded clamp 28 has a bearing 44 fixedthereto. A bearing cover. 46, is attached to the body portion 36 bymeans of a bolt 48 and an adjustable thumb screw 50. The thumb screw 50is spring loaded by spring 52 so that is retained in position in orderto adjust the force exerted on bearing cover 46 by thumb screw 50.

As may readily be seen. the second horizontal frame member 24 isrestrained between the bearing 44 and the bearing cover 46 and thefrictional restraint between the bearing portions 44 and 46 and thelongitudinal frame member 24 is adjustable by means of the thumb screw50 so that frame member 24 can be tightly retained within the bearingmember or so that the tension may be released and frame member 24 mayrotate more freely within the bearing portions 44 and 46.

The details of the spring clamps 26 on the first horizontal frame member22 are generally similar to those shown in-FlG. 3 except that the firstframe member 22 does not rotate relative to the body portion 36 so thatthe first frame member 22 may be directly fixed to the body member 36 asby welding, or the like.

As best seen in FIG. 2, a sleeve 54 is rotatably journaled around thesecond horizontal frame member 24 to assist in rotating the frame memberin a manner to be described. The sleeve 54 is restrained axially bywashers 56 that are fixed to second horizontal frame member 24.

To facilitate rotation of the second frame member 24 within the bearingportions 44 and 46, a rachet handle 58 is removably secured to the framemember 24. Rachet handle 58 is of the reversible type so that the secondframe member 24 may be rotated within the bearing means 44 and 46 ineither direction as selected by the operator.

As may readily be seen from the foregoing description, the horizontalframe members 22 and 24 may be positioned upon the side guard rails 12of the hospital bed 10. The upper hooks 40 are clamped over the tophorizontal rail 14 of the hospital bed guard rails. The frame members 22and 24 are then forced downwardly so that the lower hooks 38 may behooked beneath the center horizontal rail 18 of the side guard rails 12.The two frame members 22 and 24 are than in position on the respectiveside guard rails 12 and are below the top horizontal rails 14 of theside guard rails 12. The flexible patient support fabric 30 is hooked toeach of the frame members 22 and 24 by hooking the mesh fabric overhooks 32 on frame member 22 and hooks 34 on frame member 24. The patientsupport fabric extends up over the top rails 14 of side guard rails 12.

The amount of frictional resistance exerted upon the horizontal framemember 24 is determined by the adjustment of the thumb screw 50 so thatthe bearing 44 and the bearing cover 46 are clamped at a predeterminedtension on the second frame member 24. The amount of tension exerted bythe thumb screw 50 is determined by the weight and size of the patientto be lifted and supported on the flexible patient support fabric 30.Obviously. a heavy patient will require a greater amount of frictionbetween the bearings 44 and 46 and the side rail 24 than does a lighterweight patient.

With the flexible patient support fabric 30 under the patient and thepatient lying on the mattress of the hospital bed, the rachet handle 58may be rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1 so that thepatient support fabric 30 will be rolled upon the second horizontalframe member 24. In order to facilitate turning of the frame member 24,the person operating the device may hold the sleeve 54 with one handwhile he turns the rachet handle 58 with the other hand.

It may be seen that the flexible patient support fabric 30 extendssubstantially the length of the bed so that it provides a comfortablepatient support. The patient may be held upon the support while the bedlinen is changed or he may be held upon the support for extended periodsof time to help heal bed sores or to cure burns.

When it is desired to remove the auxiliary patient lift and support 20of the present invention from the hospital bed 10, the spring-loadedclamps 26 and 28 need only be removed from the bed guard rails 12 andthe entire device may be removed. It is obvious that no modification ofthe hospital bed whatsoever is required to install a device of thepresent invention. Further, the present invention consists of twolightweight frame members 22 and 24 and the flexible patient supportfabric 30 so that it may be readily moved from place to place by oneperson.

According to the provisions of the Patent Statutes, I have explained theprinciple, preferred construction, and mode of operation of my inventionand have illustrated and described what l now consider to represent itsbest embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that within thescope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwisethan as specifically illustrated and described.

What is claimed is:

1. An auxiliary patient lift and support for a hospital bed having sideguard rails extending upwardly above the height of the mattresscomprising:

a. a first longitudinally extending frame member being non-rotatably andremovably secured to a first one of said bed guard rails in a horizontalposition by a first plurality of spring-loaded clamps fixed to saidfirst frame member;

b. a second longitudinally extending frame member being rotatably andremovably positioned upon a second one of said bed guard rails in ahorizontal position by a second plurality of spring-loaded clampsrotatably receiving said second frame memher and having a rotatablesleeve journaled thereon at one end to facilitate rotation of saidsecond frame member within said clamps;

c. said first and second plurality of spring-loaded clamps each beingformed with two hooks that are spring biased toward each other so thatsaid clamps may be secured to said hospital bed guard rails by clampinghorizontal members of said guard rails between said hooks;

d. a flexible patient support fabric fixed at opposite sides thereof tosaid first and second frame members;

e. rotating means to selectively rotate said second frame memberrelative to said bed guard rail to thereby stretch said patient supportfabric taut between said first and second frame members and thereby lifta patient from the mattress of said hospital bed on said patient supportfabric; said entire auxiliary patient lift and support being installableand removable from said hospital bed without any modification of saidbed.

2. The auxiliary patient lift and support of claim 1 wherein saidflexible patient support fabric is formed of a net having a mesh withsquare openings larger than one-eighth inch on a side.

3. The auxiliary patient lift and support of claim 1 wherein saidflexible patient support fabric is fixed to said first and second framemembers by hooks formed on said frame members.

4. The auxiliary patient lift and support of claim 1 wherein saidrotating means is a rachet handle fixed to said second frame member.

5. The auxiliary patient lift and support of claim 1 wherein said firstand second frame members are formed of tubular metal.

6. The auxiliary'patient lift and support of claim 1 wherein saidflexible patient support fabric is wound around said second frame memberas said rotating means is rotated to lift a patient.

1. An auxiliary patient lift and support for a hospital bed having sideguard rails extending upwardly above the height of the mattresscomprising: a. a first longitudinally extending frame member beingnonrotatably and removably secured to a first one of said bed guardrails in a horizontal position by a first plurality of spring-loadedclamps fixed to said first frame member; b. a second longitudinallyextending frame member being rotatably and removably positioned upon asecond one of said bed guard rails in a horizontal position by a secondplurality of spring-loaded clamps rotatably receiving said second framemember and having a rotatable sleeve journaled thereon at one end tofacilitate rotation of said second frame member within said clamps; c.said first and second plurality of spring-loaded clamps each beingformed with two hooks that are spring biased toward each other so thatsaid clamps may be secured to said hospital bed guard rails by clampinghorizontal members of said guard rails between said hooks; d. a flexiblepatient support fabric fixed at opposite sides thereof to said first andsecond frame members; e. rotating means to selectively rotate saidsecond frame member relative to said bed guard rail to thereby stretchsaid patient support fabric taut between said first and second framemembers and thereby lift a patient from the mattress of said hospitalbed on said patient support fabric; said entire auxiliary patient liftand support being installable and removable from said hospital bedwithout any modification of said bed.
 2. The auxiliary patient lift andsupport of claim 1 wherein said flexible patient support fabric isformed of a net having a mesh with square openings larger thanone-eighth inch on a side.
 3. The auxiliary patient lift and support ofclaim 1 wherein said flexible patient support fabric is fixed to saidfirst and second frame members by hooks formed on said frame members. 4.The auxiliary patient lift and support of claim 1 wherein said rotatingmeans is a rachet handle fixed to said second frame member.
 5. Theauxiliary patient lift and support of claim 1 wherein said first andsecond frame members are formed of tubular metal.
 6. The auxiliarypatient lift and support of claim 1 wherein said flexible patientsupport fabric is wound around said second frame member as said rotatingmeans is rotated to lift a patient.